France's anti-war minister of defense resigned Tuesday, the first major political casualty of the Persian Gulf conflict within the international coalition opposing Iraq. The resignation of Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement will remove certain ambiguities in France's military participation in the war. Chevenement, a founding member of the Franco-Iraqi Friendship Assn.

France's anti-war minister of defense resigned Tuesday, the first major political casualty of the Persian Gulf conflict within the international coalition opposing Iraq. The resignation of Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement will remove certain ambiguities in France's military participation in the war. Chevenement, a founding member of the Franco-Iraqi Friendship Assn.

France's defense minister, accused of restricting his nation's military role in the Persian Gulf because of his own deep opposition to the war, is under increasing attack from political opponents and even prominent colleagues in the governing Socialist Party who want a clearer, broader French commitment to the allied war effort.

France's defense minister, accused of restricting his nation's military role in the Persian Gulf because of his own deep opposition to the war, is under increasing attack from political opponents and even prominent colleagues in the governing Socialist Party who want a clearer, broader French commitment to the allied war effort.

A French military jet made an emergency landing with engine trouble Friday after taking Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement to northeastern France, but no one was hurt, military sources said. Some damage was reported.

French Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement held Persian Gulf crisis talks with Djibouti Prime Minister Barkat Gourad Hamadou, officials said. The talks Saturday followed reinforcement of French military and naval forces in the region. France maintains a military force in this former French colony at the mouth of the Red Sea with the agreement of the Djibouti government. Chevenement also reviewed French forces assembling here for possible action in the crisis, military sources said.

A French military aircraft made an emergency landing Friday after taking Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement to northeastern France, but no one was hurt, military sources said. The Mystere-20 developed engine trouble shortly after taking off from Mulhouse-Basle Airport, where the minister had disembarked, they said. It returned to the airport to make an emergency landing but overshot the runway and crashed to a halt, sustaining some damage. The sources said a military inquiry was under

French Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement conceded that some French soldiers exceeded their authority after storming a New Caledonia cave to rescue 21 gendarmes and a state prosecutor held hostage earlier this month. He also said he suspended the officer who was in charge of prisoners taken during the May 8 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 19 Kanak separatists and two soldiers. Among those killed on the island of Ouvea was the alleged ringleader of the kidnaping, Alphonse Dianou.

GERMANY sharply condemned the latest Iraqi missile raids on Israel. Tens of thousands took to the streets in continuing anti-war protests. . . . FRANCE has not ruled out using its forces inside Iraq, the presidential palace said in Paris, seeking to placate right-wing critics. Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement said "one cannot rule out anything that will contribute to the liberation of Kuwait." . . . In BRITAIN, Prime Minister John Major warned that the war may last a while.

Tens of thousands of people marched Sunday to protest a bill that would give legal status to unmarried couples and, opponents claim, subvert "family values." The leftist government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has been pressing to make the Civil Solidarity Pact, known as PACS, law. Critics say the bill's real aim is to legalize homosexual marriages and ultimately allow gay couples to adopt children. Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement said nearly 100,000 people turned out for the march.

France reduced its naval force heading toward Lebanon, and the warships appeared to slow their advance today as they cruised less than 200 miles from the Lebanese coast, far out of range of hostile Syrian and Muslim militia artillery. The Syrian-backed Muslim forces have threatened to fire on the French ships and to stage retaliatory attacks inside France if the naval force intervenes to help Christian forces in Lebanon's civil war.